Educated as Germans and raised with great social and professional expectations, Jewish university students in the nineteenth century were forced to reconcile their German and Jewish heritages. For most of the century, the majority of German Jews privatized their Jewishness to avoid conflicts with societal expectations.

The emergence of Jewish student associations in 1881 provided a forum for Jews to openly proclaim their religious heritage. Keith Pickus tells how these groups made public expressions of Jewishness that would have shocked previous generations; yet, at the same time, the organizations were patterned on German models that enabled members to function within the university environment.

He also reveals how Jewish students who did not participate in such organizations sublimated their Jewishness in favor of other concerns and established public identities that were virtually indistinguishable from those of Gentile students.